Enterprise Erin

"I want to use Salt in a large enterprise environment."

Uses the enterprise products built on Salt.
Likely works for a large-scale enterprise that could be in a highly regulated industry such as health care, finance, and the government.
Approaches Salt from a Windows systems administration and enterprise perspective.

Needs to understand enough about Salt in order to use the enterprise product effectively in a large-scale, potentially highly regulated enterprise environment.
Wants access to a community of experts who can provide advice and insights about Salt best practices and answer occasional technical support questions.
Needs assurance that modules developed by the Salt community are secure, technically sound, bug-free, and in harmony with current industry best practices.
Hopes for a simplified process for establishing stability and availability for all systems and networks.
Wants to integrate the enterprise tool with their organization's existing systems and tools while also complying with business requirements and regulations.
Demonstrate to stakeholders that the system is compliant with security standards, industry best practices, and existing regulations.

Likes using with GUI-based systems that work out-of-the-box instead of working with command-line interfaces, especially because it reduces the cost of onboarding new coworkers and stakeholders.
Appreciates having dedicated support available that can quickly and confidently resolve any issues or questions that may arise.
Predictable, reliable updates and consistency in desktop and software configurations across all systems, reducing variability and enhancing operational stability.
More flexibility (especially compared to Microsoft Systems Center), allowing custom configurations and automation to meet specific needs and requirements.
Wants to see that other major companies and organizations trust Salt and its related enterprise products to solve large, enterprise-scale problems.

It is difficult to discover the relationship between Salt and its enterprise product offerings. The enterprise product documentation and the open source documentation are fragmented from each other and need to be better linked. It is difficult to discover the Salt community and discover what a great resource they are for working with Salt.
Salt is easier for users with backgrounds in Linux, CLI systems, and/or Python. Enterprise users may or may not have any experience with these technologies. Lack of familiarity with Linux or Python can prevent users from taking full advantage of Salt and its enterprise counterpart.
Lack of readily available resources and support tailored to Windows-based environments.
The full Salt capabilities can be overwhelming, requiring dedicated time and effort to discover and understand.
Properly formatting commands according to precise syntax within the command-line interface (CLI) is a challenge and leads to errors and inefficiencies.
Using Salt in an air-gapped environment.
Setting up Salt and its enterprise counterpart for high availability and disaster recovery.

Streamlining server builds and using Salt automation to swiftly provision and configure virtual machines.
Improving efficiency for software installations, verifying that the correct software versions and configurations are consistently applied to all target systems.
Identifying and addressing potential issues before they escalate through log management and monitoring.
Automating security scans and compliance checks to ensure that systems adhere to security policies and standards. Using the power of Salt to immediately remediate security scans and infrastructure that is out of compliance.

In-depth knowledge of Windows systems administration.
Knowledge about the specific regulatory requirements for their industry.
Expertise in networking protocols for configuring network settings, firewalls, and connectivity.
Familiarity with PowerShell scripting.